Nature Climate Change Journal publishes letter by PSN
24 February 2012
Source: PSN
A letter from PSN has been published in the March 2012 issue of Nature Climate Change Journal, highlighting increased investment in voluntary family planning programmes that respect and protect rights as a cost-effective strategy for supporting climate change adaptation.
The coastal and marine ecosystems of the Philippines are considered an important source of livelihood for 70 percent of the country's municipalities, but are threatened by both climatic impacts and population pressures.
© Liz Gilbert/David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Courtesy of Photoshare
Family planning is often overlooked
What’s family planning got to do with it? is a letter submitted by PSN to the Nature Climate Change Journal in response to a news feature which gave an overview of demographic issues in relation to climate change. The news article briefly touched on the role of family planning programmes in influencing population growth, but neglected to consider the vast unmet need for family planning that exists in developing countries.
Population growth exacerbates climate vulnerability
In the article, presenting key findings from research previously conducted by PSN, Sarah Fisher and Karen Newman stress that population growth in some of the countries hardest hit by climate change is exacerbating their vulnerability, by compounding a number of climatic impacts, including soil degradation, fresh water scarcity, and biodiversity loss. In many developing countries experiencing high rates of population growth there is a vast unmet need for voluntary family planning programmes.
The letter advocates that addressing this unmet need by increasing access to family planning programmes that respect and protect rights offers a cost-effective strategy for supporting climate change adaptation: a ‘win-win’ for women, the environment and climate justice.
Read the correspondence
You can preview the correspondence piece on the Nature Climate Change website or download the full piece here on the PSN website.